CHAPTER 19 – Raindrops

Jack and Ianto were the only one's left in the hub, finishing up the day's work. Jack was in his office putting an artefact into safe keeping when Ianto came up behind him. He moved in so he was impossibly close but not touching him. He leaned into his neck so Jack could feel his hot, moist breath by his ear and he began speaking in a low whisper.

"Sebon past dannedd afal grawnwin caws sew bresychen. Hafen tatws moron siwgr. Blawd helogan ymenyn creision."

Jack's breathing sped up and his body temperature rose. Ianto slid his arm around Jack's waist and placed his hand over the growing bulge in Jack's pants.

Trying to focus, Jack let out a soft moan before asking, "What are you doing? Not that I mind."

Continuing to whisper, Ianto said, "I'm testing you. You said that I could be reciting my shopping list in Welsh and it would turn you on. That was my shopping list and apparently it works." He emphasised his point by giving a gentle squeeze to the bulge in Jack's pants.

Jack turned around and pulled Ianto into a steamy kiss that was promptly interrupted by the rift activity alarm.

"Urghhh! I guess we will have to continue this later. Let's see what we've got."

"Looks like something electronic, some kind of tech. We should probably go check it out. I'll call Cadi and let her know we are going to be late."

The two men set out for the coordinates of the rift activity. It was already getting dark and had started to rain.

"So was that really your shopping list?"

"Yep. Soap, toothpaste, apples, grapes, cheese, juice, cabbage…"

Jack cut him off before he finished. "Definitely sounds better in Welsh."

They pulled up and got out of the SUV. There was nothing obvious lying around. The only thing they saw were a man and woman standing under the awning of the adjacent building. Jack approached them.

"Excuse me. Have you seen anything unusual around here in the last half hour?"

The two looked at Jack. "No. Not much going on with the rain."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Well, nothing here now. Let's just head home."

"Sounds good to me." The young Welshman got into the passenger side of the SUV. The rain began really beating down as they drove to the flat. They were a few blocks away when someone suddenly appeared in front of the SUV. Jack slammed on the brakes and tried to swerve but was unable to avoid hitting the person. He immediately stopped and he and Ianto jumped out to check on the person lying in the street.

The victim was a young boy. He started to get up before Jack and Ianto got to him.

"Whoa! Hold on. Let's make sure you are okay before you go jumping up."

The boy tried to pull away but let out a bellow as he moved his arm. Ianto gently lifted the boys arm to check the injury. The arm was definitely broken, it had an unnatural dip in the forearm.

"Jack, his arm is broken. We need to get him to the hospital."

"NO! I have to get home. My tad will be mad if I'm late." The boy again tried to pull away.

"Hey, he'll understand. He wouldn't expect you to go home with a broken arm. We are going to take you to the hospital. We will take care of everything."

"No, you don't understand. I have to go home." The young boy was pleading.

Jack and Ianto weren't sure what was going on with the boy, but there was no way they were going to let the boy go.

"Come on. At least let us drive you."

Ianto got in the back seat with the young boy. Jack began driving. The boy was beginning to feel the pain from his injury so he was not paying attention to where they were going. Ianto tried to keep the arm stable to prevent more injury. As they drove Ianto began looking the boy over. In addition to the broken arm, the boy had a black eye, but it didn't look to be from the accident. His pants had a rip at the knee where he had fallen after being hit. He imagined the boy was about thirteen or fourteen years old. He had dark brown hair that hung in loose curls around his face. The boy began shivering, whether from being wet and cold or from shock Ianto wasn't sure. Moments later, Jack pulled into the parking lot at the A & E.

The two men rushed the boy inside. Jack being Jack, he pushed his way through, going on about a "Torchwwod emergency."

"Captain Harkness."

Jack turned to see the doctor addressing him. "Dr. Wijeratne. We have a young man that was hit by a car and has a broken arm."

She led them into a room. "Trouble just seems to follow you doesn't it?"

"It's not always my fault." He gave a coy pout.

"Let's get a temporary splint on this arm while I check you over okay?"

The boy didn't respond.

"What's your name love?"

He finally looked up. "Kai. Kai Thomas."

"Can I get your phone number Kai? I need to call your parents."

"NO! You can't do that!"

The doctor looked to Jack for an explanation but he shrugged.

"Okay, okay. We'll wait to do that. Let's get a look at you though. Does anything besides your arm hurt?"

"No, not really."

"What happened to that eye?"

He hesitated before responding. "Umm, I got into a row with one of my mates at school."

"Okay, I need to take off your shirt so I can check your ribs and breathing."

"No! I'm fine."

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you I just need to check things out."

Jack and Ianto stood to the side, watching the boy's reactions.

The doctor removed his shirt and began checking over his torso. She checked his ribs and breathing. When she moved around to his back, she shot a look at Jack and Ianto.

"Okay. Everything else looks okay but we need to get some x-rays done so we can get that arm set. I'm going to have the tech take you down to radiology." A nurse brought a wheelchair in for the young man. After they had left the room, the doctor let loose on Jack.

"What the hell have you been doing to that boy?"

Jack and Ianto looked at one another before Jack turned back to the doctor. "Other than hitting him with my car an hour ago, I haven't ever even seen him before. I just wanted to make sure to get that arm taken care of. What's going on?"

The doctor sighed and turned to the two men. "I am 99% sure that boy has been suffering abuse for some time. His back had multiple bruises in varying stages of healing and I'll bet the x-rays will show that he has had rib fractures before. Abusers learn to hit where the injuries are not likely to be seen. I'm surprised about the eye. He probably just lost it one day."

"I guess that explains his reaction about telling his father."

"He knows he will probably get more when he gets home. God I hate these cases. I am required to make a report to Children's Services, but too many times the kids are placed back in the home. Especially the older kids. They have been taking it for so long they are used to covering for their abusers and will deny everything. They start to believe that they deserve it and believe they have done something wrong. Whether he wants me to or not, I have to notify his father before I contact Children's Services."

"Are you kidding me? You can't even think about letting that man torture that boy anymore."

"Captain Harkness. There are protocols that we have to follow. I am not going to release him to his father. Children's Services will be the one's to make that decision."

"And you just said that they usually end up back with the abusers. I'm not going to let that happen."

Ianto reached out and placed his hand on Jack's arm.

"Jack. We need to let the professionals handle this. They do what is in the best interest of the child. We can talk to the boy about being truthful and giving them any information they ask for so that he isn't in danger."

Jack sighed. "Fine but I want to talk to the Children's Services people too."

"We can arrange that. Now, we have to get him to tell me his phone number so I can contact his father."

"I'll get it." Ianto pulled out his PDA. "He gave us his address, so I'll just do a reverse search for the number."

He provided the number to the doctor and she left the room. Jack and Ianto sat down to wait.

"How can people hurt kids on purpose? They haven't done anything."

The Welshman wrapped his arm around the immortal. The older man leaned into his shoulder. They sat quietly until the door opened to reveal the boy being pushed back in by the nurse. His arm was in a blue cast.

The two men stood. "Looks like they got you all fixed up. How is it feeling?"

"I can't really feel anything. They shot a bunch of pain killers into it before they set it. The doctor said it would probably start hurting in a couple of hours."

"I think they will give you something for the pain. I'll see to it. I can be very persuasive." Jack gave the boy a grin.

Ianto decided it was time to deal with the inevitable. "Kai, the doctor had to contact your father. He is on his was down here."

The boy blanched when he heard the news. He got very quiet and sat staring at his hands in his lap.

"Kai, I'm not going to let him hurt you. The doctor is going to contact Children's Services. We know what's been happening to you at home. We are going to help."

The boy looked up at Jack. "You can't do anything. There's nothing going on."

"I know it's hard. But it's not okay for him to hurt you."

"You don't know anything about what it's like for me. Why don't you just stay out of it. I want to go home."

Jack started to speak again but Ianto grabbed his arm to silence him. Jack looked at his lover. Instead of speaking, he sat down to wait.